- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Hundreds of UC Davis employees and their offspring--ages 6 and over--visited sites all across campus on Thursday, April 27.
One of the most colorful sites: the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre pollinator, research and demonstration garden located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
Visitors viewed the some 200 plant species in the haven, and participated in "catch-and-release" bee observation with devices provided by the haven. They also checked out the six-foot worker bee that anchors the garden. Titled "Miss Bee Haven," it is the work of Donna Billick, a self-described "rock artist" based in Davis. The art in the garden represents both student and community work directed by entomology professor Diane Ullman and Billick, co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
"Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" (TODS) is billed as “an annual national celebration of employers hosting children at their workplace.” It's a popular event at UC Davis. TODS not only exposes youths to what their parents and their peers do at work, but it can serve as a springboard to attend college and envision their future.
- Chloe Jerng, 8, entered the haven with her dad, Mark Jerng, a UC Davis English professor.
- Samantha Morrill, 8, and her sister, Hannah, 11, joined their mother, Nicole, an employee at UC Davis Athletics
- Isla Robertson, 7, and her brother, Cameron, 4, participated with their mother, Sarah Robertson, an employee at IET Enterprise Applications and Infrastructure Services
History? The garden was installed in the fall of 2009 under the direction of Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and then interim director of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology).
A Sausalito team--landscape architects Donald Sibbett and Ann F. Baker, interpretative planner Jessica Brainard and exhibit designer Chika Kurotaki--won the design competition. as judged by Professor Kimsey; founding garden manager Missy Borel (now Missy Borel Gable), now statewide director of the UC Master Gardeners' Program; David Fujino, executive director, California Center for Urban Horticulture at UC Davis; Aaron Majors, construction department manager, Cagwin & Dorward Landscape Contractors, based in Novato; Diane McIntyre, senior public relations manager, Häagen-Dazs ice cream; Heath Schenker, professor of environmental design, UC Davis; Jacob Voit, sustainability manager and construction project manager, Cagwin and Dorward Landscape Contractors; and Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The garden is now managed by program representative/entomologist Christine Casey, and faculty director Elina Niño, Extension apiculturist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, the haven is open to the public from dawn to dusk for self-guided tours. Admission is free. For information on guided tours (a fee applies), plants, bee gardening classes, docents and donations, access the website, Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's what will happen on Thursday, April 28 during the annual "Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work" day at the University of California, Davis.
The UC Davis event, nicknamed TODS Day, coincides with the national workplace celebration, a day when employers spring open their doors to the offspring of their employees.
"Kids will have the opportunity to see how our UC Davis community functions, instructs, learns and grows," a spokesperson said.
Insects? Not to worry. Yes, there will be insects. The Department of Entomology and Nematology is planning special activities at its Bohart Museum of Entomology and at its bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo," is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. The half-acre bee garden is located on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
"The haven will have activities for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day from 11:30 to 1:30," reports Christine Casey, staff director of the haven. "Learn how to safely catch and observe bees, learn about bee diversity, and have your lunch in our picnic area."
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at the Bohart Museum, says the Bohart will be open to TODS participants in the afternoon from 2 to 5. Education interns from EDU 142, an environmental education class, will provide insect life cycle activities. Visitors can hold and photograph the critters in the pettzing zoo, including walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and rose-haired tarantulas.
Most activities/events do not require prior enrollment. For a list of the events that do or don't, check the website. See also the 2016 Davis Schedule of Events.
Among the many things to do:
- Make pottery and grind acorns with the Anthropology department.
- Experience what it's like to work in agriculture and plant some vegetables to bring home.
- Enjoy a reprise of the famous Picnic Day Chemistry Show.
- Meet the UC Davis dairy cows.
- Listen and dance to Band-Uh and explore the “Instrument Zoo.”
- Explore Chinese culture with Chinese crafts and food at the Confucius Institute.
- Visit feathered friends at the Raptor Center.
- Taste honey and see how wine is made at the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Science Center.
- Enjoy a “Walk in the Woods with Chemistry.”
- Check out the famous double-decker buses and see UC Davis keeps them running.
- Get a peek at animal skins, nests, eggs, and skeletons collected by scientists/explorers from creatures around the world at the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
- Discover plants from the world's deserts and tropical forests, some which are carnivorous!
- Sound the police siren and spray the fire hose at the police and fire atations.
- See what it's like to be an Aggie football player and experience the stadium from inside-out.
- Check out the tiny world of plants and animals through the eyes of a microscope .
- Explore the backstage of the Mondavi Center for Performing Arts.
- Explore the artifacts, bones, stones and pottery at the Archaeology Lab.
Educational. Informative. Entertaining. And there's an added bonus: It's an opportunity for youngsters to envision their own future.